Top Ten Absurd Statements about Spying

The national dialog being conducted by the defenders of NSA spying seems to rely on the assumption we don't have any intelligence, it is so littered with absurdly illogical false statements.  Since everyone seems to enjoy Top Ten lists, here's mine.

10. What the NSA is doing is legal.  You have to follow a trail of nitpicking twists of logic to give this statement any credence.  In short, acquiring information by spying isn't really spying if nobody knows about it or bothers to look at the data.  The NSA record of every phone call made in the US is deemed to not legally exist if nobody uses it.

9.  9/11 Could have been prevented if this had been in place.  Those making the argument have ignored a key aspect of historical record.  U.S. intelligence agencies knew the identity of the hijacker in question, Saudi national Khalid al Mihdhar, long before 9/11 and had the ability find him, but they failed to do so.
"There were plenty of opportunities without having to rely on this metadata system for the FBI and intelligence agencies to have located Mihdhar," says former Senator Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who extensively investigated 9/11 as chairman of the Senate's intelligence committee.

8.  NSA surveillance disrupted "over 50" Terrorist plots.  There have been all sorts of numbers claimed, ranging from dozens (refuted by Mark Udall and Ron Wyden here) to maybe 10 in the US.  They cite David Coleman Headley, a key plotter in the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks, but ProPublica did extensive research that shows NSA missed him entirely for 7 years until British Intelligence told them he was up to no good.

7.  We need to trade some Civil Liberties to fight Terrorism.  This ignores the fact that we are governed entirely by the Constitution, no law or policy can legally violate any of its provisions.  Period.  As argued in this article, we can not "trade" any violation of the Constitution without amending it, but that is precisely what the government is arbitrarily and secretly doing.

6.  All 465 Members of Congress were fully briefed on NSA spying.  Funny, other members of Congress, including one of the authors of the Patriot Act, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis expressed outrage and concern about the data collection.

5.  President Obama says the NSA and FISA policies are "Transparent".  Well, maybe it is transparent to him, but not much of anyone else.  It operates in total secrecy, in fact anyone who is included in that "transparency" is prohibited from revealing anything about it, like Ron Wyden and Mark Udall.

4.  Edward Snowden does not classify as a Whistleblower.  Apparently whistleblowers can only blow the whistle on someone the current administration doesn't like.  Daniel Ellsberg thinks he's a hero, and we need more patriots like him. Ellsberg did a similar act in revealing the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

3.  Eric Holder defends the First Amendment right of Freedom of the Press.  Holder said he would never contemplate prosecuting reporters for publishing classified material, but his DOJ named Fox News reporter as a possible co-conspirator for publishing a news story, and they also bugged the Associated Press offices for 2 months.

2.  NSA spying has been effective in protecting US against Terrorism.  Boston Marathon bombers didn't seem to have any problems.

1.  The Government is concerned with preserving our Civil Rights.  The ACLU doesn't think so, and neither do I.  President Obama said he welcomed the dialog on the subject, while keeping it a close secret to prevent the possibility of any dialog.  Absurd.